Former Stanford University President to Lead the American Academy in Berlin

BERLIN, December 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

The Trustees of the American Academy in Berlin are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Dr. Gerhard Casper as its President. Professor Casper, President Emeritus of Stanford University and Trustee Emeritus of the American Academy, will assume his duties as President in July 2015. In this role, he will combine the duties of Executive Director and President, titles formerly held by two separate persons, and he will be the first President-in-Residence in the Academy's history.

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, a founding chairman of the American Academy, said of the appointment: "Gerhard Casper, whose leadership at Stanford University I greatly admired, is an inspired choice."

Historian and American Academy Trustee Emeritus Fritz Stern said: "Splendid! Casper is a model scholar, a proven administrator, and a wonderful person, at home in the two countries, and a committed citizen of the world. We are lucky!"

Born in Hamburg, Germany, Gerhard Casper was President of Stanford University from 1992-2000 and currently serves as a Senior Fellow at both the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. 

Casper has written and taught primarily in the fields of American constitutional law and constitutional history. He is the author of several books, most recently The Winds of Freedom: Addressing Challenges to the University (Yale University Press, 2014). From 1977 to 1990, he was an editor of The Supreme Court Review. He has been elected to membership in the American Law Institute and its Council, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Orden Pour le mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste.

The Academy's current Executive Director, Dr. Gary Smith, will step down from his position on December 31, 2014, after 18 years of service. There will be a Trustee-in-Residence for the interim period.

For interview requests and further information, please contact
Head of Communications, Rüdiger Jürgensen
[email protected] / + 49-30-80483414

SOURCE American Academy in Berlin